Dec. 7, 2006
Georgia Tech award finalists Calvin Johnson and Durant Brooks will appear on the Home Depot College Football Awards show, which airs Thursday on ESPN, live from 7-9 p.m.
The winners of most of college football’s major awards will be announced during the show, which takes place at the Disney complex in Orlando, Fla.
Johnson, Tech’s all-America wide receiver, is a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top receiver. Also up for the award are Jeff Samardzja of Notre Dame and Jarrett Dillard of Rice.
Brooks, the Yellow Jackets’ all-conference punter, is one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award, which goes to the nation’s top punter. His competition is Daniel Sepulveda of Baylor and Jeremy Kapinos of Penn State.
The Ray Guy Award is named for the long-time NFL standout with the Oakland Raiders, who hails from Thomson, Ga. Brooks is the first finalist from the state of Georgia in the award’s seven-year history. Guy is a mentor for Brooks, who attended Guy’s kicking camp. Brooks attended Tattnall Square in Macon, Ga., but his mother, LuAnne Durant, lives near Thomson.
Johnson and Brooks are bidding to join quarterback Joe Hamilton as the only Yellow Jackets to win a national award. Hamilton won the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award in 1999, the same year he was runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.
